Xtra News Community 2
March 29, 2024, 10:03:27 pm
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: Welcome to Xtra News Community 2 — please also join our XNC2-BACKUP-GROUP.
 
  Home Help Arcade Gallery Links BITEBACK! XNC2-BACKUP-GROUP Staff List Login Register  

New Zealand's glaciers

Pages: [1]   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: New Zealand's glaciers  (Read 4229 times)
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Kiwithrottlejockey
Admin Staff
XNC2 GOD
*
Posts: 32233


Having fun in the hills!


« on: February 25, 2013, 03:39:29 pm »


‘Largest ever’ iceberg calves into lake

The Press | 2:44PM - Sunday, 24 February 2013

EVERYBODY CHILL: Tourists with Glacier Explorers face to face with the largest ever iceberg to calve off the face of the glacier into the Tasman Glacier Terminal Lake.
EVERYBODY CHILL: Tourists with Glacier Explorers face to face with the largest ever iceberg
to calve off the face of the glacier into the Tasman Glacier Terminal Lake.


A MAJOR "calving" event on the front face of New Zealand's Tasman Glacier has created the largest-ever iceberg seen on the Tasman Glacier Terminal Lake.

The calving — believed to have happened in the early hours of Saturday morning, saw the entire 650m-wide front face of the Tasman Glacier in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park break away into the lake.

The ice broke into around 20 huge icebergs, including one which Glacier Explorers Operations Manager Bede Ward described as "the largest ever" by quite some way.

"The last major calving we had was just over a year ago which was estimated at 30 million tonnes of ice breaking off the glacier," he said.

"This is much, much larger. There's one iceberg which surpasses the last largest-ever single iceberg (nicknamed Taniwha) we've ever had on the lake by quite some way."

"The sheer walls of this iceberg reach 40 to 50 metres in height above the waterline, and would almost certainly be 200 to 250 metres beneath the water line. That's simply enormous."

Mr Ward said the timing of the calving was also a huge coincidence, as the Tasman Glacier Lake had a similar calving of this scale just five minutes after the Christchurch earthquake two years ago.

"The Tasman Glacier has been unusually quiet for the past 12 months with only small calvings suggesting the glacier had maybe started to slow down," he said.

"That's proven to the contrary after it released the ‘mother lode’ yesterday."

Mr Ward said the icebergs created by the calving would make for "fantastic viewing" for visitors on board Glacier Explorers Mac Boats, which take passengers out on the lake to view towering ice cliffs and the huge 'bergs'.

"It's an extraordinary opportunity to view nature in action, simply spectacular," he said. "Guests who have been out with us today couldn't believe their luck, and the icebergs will be around for months to come."

No-one witnessed the calving as it happened at night.


http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/christchurch-life/8344976/Largest-ever-iceberg-calves-into-lake



Chilly beauties roam glacier lake

The Timaru Herald | 6:57AM - Monday, 25 February 2013

ICE BLUE: The largest ever "calving" of icebergs on the Tasman Glacier terminal lake in the Aoraki Mount Cook National Park has produced spectacular blue icebergs.
ICE BLUE: The largest ever "calving" of icebergs on the Tasman Glacier terminal lake in
the Aoraki Mount Cook National Park has produced spectacular blue icebergs.


THE Tasman Glacier lake at Mount Cook has its largest iceberg ever following an overnight "calving" whch left 20 huge icebergs on the lake.

The entire 650-metre-wide front face of the Tasman Glacier is believed to have broken away into various-sized sections in the early hours of Saturday morning.

One of the icebergs is the "largest ever" by quite some way, according to Glacier Explorers operations manager Bede Ward.

"The last major calving we had was just over a year ago which was estimated at 30 million tonnes of ice breaking off the glacier," he said.

"This is much, much larger. There's one iceberg that surpasses the last largest-ever single iceberg [nicknamed Taniwha] we've ever had on the lake."

The sheer walls of this iceberg reach 40m to 50m in height and are likely to go 200m to 250m below the water.

Mr Ward said the timing was a huge coincidence, as the Tasman Glacier lake experienced a similar calving of this scale just five minutes after the huge Christchurch earthquake two years ago.

"The Tasman Glacier has been unusually quiet for the past 12 months with only small calvings, suggesting the glacier had maybe started to slow down," he said.

"It's an extraordinary opportunity to view nature in action, simply spectacular. Guests who have been out with us today couldn't believe their luck."


http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/8346479/Chilly-beauties-roam-glacier-lake
Report Spam   Logged

If you aren't living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space! 

Pages: [1]   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by EzPortal
Open XNC2 Smileys
Bookmark this site! | Upgrade This Forum
SMF For Free - Create your own Forum


Powered by SMF | SMF © 2016, Simple Machines
Privacy Policy
Page created in 0.024 seconds with 16 queries.